mixedmartialartsfandomcom-20200214-history
Sean Sherk
| birth_place = St. Francis, Minnesota | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | other_names = The Muscle Shark | residence = | nationality = American | height = | weight = | weightclass = 155 (2006–present) 170 (1999–2006) | reach = | style = Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing | stance = | fightingoutof = Oak Grove, Minnesota | team = Minnesota Martial Arts Academy | trainer = Greg Nelson | rank = | yearsactive = 1999–present | mmawins = 33 | mmakowins = 9 | mmasubwins = 12 | mmalosses = 4 | mmakolosses = 2 | mmasublosses = | mmadraws = 1 | mmancs = | amwins = 2 | amkowins = | amsubwins = | amlosses = 0 | amkolosses = | amsublosses = | amdraws = | amncs = | occupation = | university = | spouse = Heather | children = 2 | relatives = | students = | club = | school = | url = http://seansherk.com/ | boxrec = | sherdog = 277 | footnotes = | updated = September 07, 2009 }} Sean Keith Sherk (born August 5, 1973) is an American mixed martial arts fighter currently fighting for the UFC. He currently holds a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) record of thirty-three wins, four losses and one draw. Sherk has fought in both the UFC and Pride FC, and is a former UFC Lightweight Champion. He holds notable wins over Kenny Florian, Nick Diaz, Hermes Franca, Manvel Gamburyan, Karo Parisyan, Benji Radach and Tyson Griffin. Sherk began fighting MMA in June 1999, where he originally fought at the welterweight weight-class. During his time as a welterweight, Sherk suffered two losses; one to Matt Hughes and one to Georges St. Pierre. In 2006, Sherk decided to drop down to the lightweight class of 155 lb. In his first fight as a lightweight, Sherk defeated Kenny Florian to become the first UFC Lightweight Champion in over four years. After his first successful defense with the title, Sherk was stripped of the title after testing positive for steroids, an accusation he unsuccessfully fought against in a series of controversial hearings. Upon his return in May 2008, Sherk failed to win back the title from the champion, B.J. Penn. Martial arts background Sean Sherk was born on August 5, 1973 in St. Francis, Minnesota. Sherk began wrestling at age seven. He continued to wrestle for eleven years, and in that time he wrestled over 400 matches. After finding Greg Nelson's Minnesota Martial Arts Academy in 1994, Sherk began to practice boxing, shoot wrestling, and Muay Thai. In 1999, Sherk defeated Roscoe Ostyn by decision in his first MMA fight. Mixed martial arts career Sherk began his mixed martial arts career in 1999, where he went on an eight-fight win streak before signing with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 2001. Sherk fought only two fights before leaving the UFC. He eventually came back and fought Matt Hughes for the UFC Welterweight Championship. He lost the match and went on to sign with Pride Fighting Championships (Pride). In 2005, Sherk re-signed with the UFC and lost to Georges St. Pierre. UFC (2001–2003) Sherk made his UFC debut at UFC 30, where he defeated Tiki Ghosn. After going 5-0-1 outside the UFC, he was brought back to fight Jutaro Nakao at UFC 36, a fight which Sherk won via unanimous decision. On September 27, 2002, at UFC 39, Sherk defeated Benji Radach when the fight was stopped due to a cut Radach had received. Sherk was then chosen to fight Matt Hughes for the UFC Welterweight Championship on April 25, 2003. Sherk lost the fight via unanimous decision after going five five-minute rounds. Sherk won two of the overall five rounds, becoming the first fighter to ever fight a full five round fight with then-champion Matt Hughes. Pride (2004) Following his loss to Hughes, Sherk fought three more times in 2003, winning all three bouts. In 2004, he signed with Pride and made his debut with the Japanese-based organization at Pride Bushido 2. Sherk defeated Ryuki Ueyama via unanimous decision, in what was his only outing in the company. According to Sean Sherk's website, the Japanese fans are the ones responsible for giving him the nickname "The Muscle Shark." While he was popular in Japan, Sherk found it difficult to travel and support his family and found he could make a better living fighting as a main event on local shows. He also cited his lack of health insurance for making this decision. Return to the UFC and steroid allegations (2005–present) Sherk was invited back to the UFC in 2005 for a fight with Georges St. Pierre. Sherk lost by TKO, but was given another fight in the UFC at UFC 59, where he defeated Nick Diaz via unanimous decision. During the post-fight interview, Sherk stated his intention to drop down in weight to the lightweight division. In October 2006, at UFC 64, Sherk defeated Kenny Florian via unanimous decision to win the UFC Lightweight Championship. With this win, Sherk became the first UFC Lightweight Champion since Jens Pulver vacated the title in 2002. Sherk fought the bout with a torn rotator cuff and was forced to rehabilitate afterwards. In July 2007, Sherk successfully defended his title against Hermes Franca at UFC 73. After the fight, the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) announced that Sherk had tested positive for Nandrolone, a banned steroid, in a urine test the day prior to the fight. After testing positive for twelve ng/ml of Nandrolone, Sherk was fined $2,500 and suspended from competing in California for one year. . Champion, Challenger Positive for Steroids|publisher=Sherdog|dateformat=mdy|accessdate=August 9, 2008}} Sherk's suspension was reduced to six months after appealing his allegations on December 4, 2007, making him eligible to fight in early January 2008. Sherk claimed errors were made in lab testing procedures. He claimed that failure of the lab to properly test the vials used in the earlier, positive tests for any remaining steroid content may have resulted in his sample becoming contaminated. However, Quest Diagnostics and the CSAC denied any errors were made. Although this raises many questions on Sherk's innocence. Following the CSAC's decision to uphold the results of the positive steroid test, the UFC officially stripped Sherk of his Lightweight Championship. At UFC 80, B.J. Penn defeated Joe Stevenson to win the vacant title. After the fight, UFC president Dana White announced that Penn's first title defense would be against Sherk, who was reinstated by UFC in April 2008. Sherk and Penn fought at UFC 84 on May 24, 2008. Sherk lost by TKO after being caught by a flying knee and multiple clean shots to the face. Sherk was unable to continue at the end of the third round. Sherk fought Tyson Griffin at UFC 90: Silva vs Cote. He defeated Griffin via unanimous decision. Sherk next fought Frank Edgar at UFC 98 losing via unanimous decision. Sherk again found himself in trouble with an athletic commission post fight, after he ran from the arena before supplying a post fight urinalysis. He was contacted by commission officer Keith Kizer and told to return to the arena immediately or face his license being revoked. Sherk returned within the hour and provided a urinalysis, but was still suspended 45 days for the actions. http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/blog-greg-jackson-talks-yoshida-17642 Sherk was scheduled to face Gleison Tibau at UFC 104 because of an injury. He was be replaced by Josh Neer. Sherk was scheduled to face Rafaello Oliveira on January 2, 2010 at UFC 108. However, due to an injury to Tyson Griffin, Sherk was promoted to the main card to fight Jim Miller. Sherk did not compete at UFC 108, pulling out due to injury. Sherk suffered a cut above his right eye requiring several stitches. Sherk was expected to face Clay Guida on March 21, 2010 at UFC on Versus: Vera vs. Jones, , but Sherk was forced off the card with yet another injury. Guida will now face Shannon Gugerty. It is currently unknown when Sherk will fight again. Personal life Sherk and his wife have two sons, Kyler and Tegan. Sean was captain of his high school football and color guard team. He currently coaches a team of fighters with coaches Greg Nelson, Nat McIntyre, Andy Grahn, Ryan Murray,Tom Schmitz and Ishmael Bentley at the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy. Other fighters include Brock Lesnar, Brock Larson, Nick Thompson, Logan Clark, Jacob Volkmann, Kaitlin Young and Saul Mitchell Mixed martial arts record Championships and accomplishments *'Ultimate Fighting Championship' **UFC Lightweight Championship (1 time) References External links *Official site *Official UFC.com profile *Official MySpage page * Category:1973 births Category:American mixed martial artists Category:Living people Category:Ultimate Fighting Championship champions Category:American sportspeople in doping cases Category:Doping cases in mixed martial arts ja:ショーン・シャーク no:Sean Sherk pt:Sean Sherk sv:Sean Sherk